To record the duels that have taken place in the United States of America would require a ponderous work. They not only have been very frequent, but in general marked with a character of reckless ferocity, that clearly shows the very slow progress of civilization in that rising country, where we have every reason to expect and to hope that at some future period the practice of duelling will fall into as much disrepute as in more polished regions.
This young country, notwithstanding its constant commercial and political relations with the European powers and the mother-land, is but little known; indeed, a knowledge of the customs, habits, and ideas of its inhabitants, must be difficult to obtain, from their territorial divisions, the great extent of their provinces, and the difference of the institutions that rule their several states: in the one, an offence is considered a heinous crime, which in another is deemed a mere misdemeanor, an anomaly in legislation which 372 must arise from the variety of their commercial and agricultural interests. It is, moreover, to be deeply lamented that most travellers who have described their manners, after a mere hasty glance at the state of their society, started on the tour of inquiry fully determined to find fault, and possibly to speculate ultimately on national prejudices, as their works have become more or less popular according to the ridicule they have attached to American society, or the denunciation of its hostility towards England. On the other hand, other travellers have launched forth into lavish and enthusiastic praise, even of their vices and errors; and France has not been backward in sending to the States demagogues and visionaries, who consider them the seat of liberty and independence.
That duels should be frequent in a new settlement is naturally to be expected, more especially when the settlers are rude and uneducated; the distance between their dwellings, the wildness of the forest, and the difficulty, if not the impossibility, of having recourse to legal and competent judicial authorities to settle their endless differences, must induce them to take the law into their own hands, and arrange matters with sword, pistol, rifle, or bowie-knife; or, if weapons were not at hand, by the most ferocious pugilistic contests, partaking of the savage yet honourable boxing of their fathers, and the ferocious 373 refinement of their Indian neighbours. Thus, wherever a colonist squatted, he became the sole guardian and protector of his log-house and property.
The influence of example, which the conduct of the upper classes exercises on the lower orders, is sometimes reversed, and the false notions of right and honour, entertained by the vulgar, are too frequently adopted by their superiors, who from political purposes are anxious to court that popularity which a display of what is misnamed courage is sure to obtain among a rude people, who are unwilling, from false notions of pride, to raise themselves to the level of the civilization of their mother country. Fortunately, this absurd prejudice is gradually losing ground, although, if we may form an opinion by the public press, the bombastic style and the silly bragging of their writers will tend to retard most materially this desirable progress. The absurd fancy of seeking to alter the language of their ancestors, is a convincing proof of the folly of such pretensions to superiority, which a few accidental successes in war have carried to a pitch absolutely ridiculous. It is not easy for their legislators and their temporary rulers to oppose this bubbling and frothy torrent of popular vanity; nor indeed dare they stem its dangerous tide, which wafts them to power: and thus are they often under the painful necessity of appearing to sanction 374 excesses which they sincerely condemn, and to use a style of exaggeration suited to the morbid temperament of their constituents. With us the degradation of the hustings is an occasional occurrence; in America every public man is hourly polling. There is a state of feverish anxiety perpetually raging, and duelling must be the inevitable result of such a fermentation, and will continue to prevail so long as brute force is considered a qualification.
Several of the states, however, have endeavoured to check the practice: that of Massachusetts framed a law for that purpose in 1719, which was revived in 1784, and subsequently in 1805; by this enactment, any person fighting a duel was deprived of his political rights, and rendered ineligible to any public situation for twenty years, and the body of the deceased, when the meeting proved fatal, was appropriated to anatomical demonstration. Similar laws have been promulgated in Tennessee, New York, and other states. In Virginia public officers were called upon to take an oath never to fight a duel upon entering on their functions, and after this resolution duels became very rare. In New Orleans, the papers of 1834, and several recent publications, proposed the establishment of a court of honour, to decide upon any differences that might arise amongst its citizens; and in 1831 Mr. Livingston published his views on this important 375 subject, relative to which a French writer, Dupont de Nemours, speaks in the following terms:—
“The diversity of political opinion has rendered duelling very frequent in the United States, Some years ago, General Hamilton, a man of the most distinguished merit, and who had been minister of finance, was slain in a duel by Colonel Burr, and two years before that fatal event, the eldest son of the general had lost his life in a similar manner.
“Most of the states have denounced a sentence of death against those duellists who have killed their adversaries. But this penalty is only comminatory, since it is eluded by the parties repairing to a neighbouring province, of which they are not citizens, and which has not the power to take cognizance of their offences; the laws on this head not extending to the whole country, but being limited to each of the eighteen confederate states.
“Moreover, European experience has evidently shown that death does not intimidate those who fight, because they either brave it, or wish to show that they do not fear its terrors.
“The habits of the Virginians disposed them to duelling more than any other of the Americans, and the extent of the country rendered it more difficult to seek the protection of a neighbouring state; for when people are determined 376 to fight, they are in general impatient. The legislature of Virginia has therefore sought to obtain its object by a less severe penalty, which from that very reason was more likely to prove efficacious. They considered that when in frivolous matters, or in differences of opinion which the law tolerates and even authorizes, a man is induced to expose himself to death or to slay another, he is actually demented, and that, therefore, all principals and seconds in a duel should be considered labouring under an alienation of mind, and deprived of any public station that they might hold; that their property, moreover, should be vested in the hands of trustees, and in fact be considered as labouring under an interdiction. Since this enactment, duels in the state of Virginia have been rarely heard of.”
The first notorious duel that was fought in America was in the year 1630, when a challenge to single combat with sword and dagger, passed between Edward Doty and Edward Leister, servants of a Mr. Hopkins. Both were wounded, the one in the hand, and the other in the thigh. As it was deemed expedient to repress such affairs, the parties were condemned to have their hands and feet tied together, and to lie in that condition for twenty-four hours, without either meat or drink. This punishment was begun to be inflicted, but in an hour the pain they endured was so severe, that, at their own supplication 377 and their master’s request. Governor Bradford liberated them on their promise of future good behaviour.
The correspondence that arose between General Wilkinson and Mr. Randolph, a senator, is somewhat curious. The former had observed, that he had learnt that Mr. Randolph had called him a rogue: to this the Honourable John Randolph replied, “In you, Sir, I can recognize no right to hold me accountable for my public or private opinion of your character, that would not subject me to an equal claim from Colonel Burr and Sergeant Dunbaugh. I cannot descend to your level. This is my final answer.” Upon this concise reply, the General wrote the following letter to the senator:—
“Sir,
“I have received your letter of the 25th instant, by mail, in which you violate truth and honour, to indulge the inherent malignity and rancour of your soul. On what ‘level,’ pray Sir, shall we find the wretch who, to mark his cowardice, fabricates falsehoods, and heaps unprovoked insults upon unmerited injuries? You ‘cannot descend to my level,’—vain, equivocal thing! And you believe this dastardly subterfuge will avail you, or that your lion’s skin will longer conceal your true character? Embrace the alternative still within your reach, and 378 ascend to the ‘level’ of a gentleman, if possible; act like a man if you can, and spare me the pain of publishing you to the world for an insolent, slanderous, and prevaricating poltroon.
“James Wilkinson.”
There is a N.B. by way of postscript, to tell the senator that “the sacred respect due to the station he occupied in the councils of the nation, alone protected him from the chastisement of his cane.”
The General kept his word, and when Congress was assembled, the following notice was stuck up in the corners of the streets and in all the taverns:—
“Hector unmasked.—In justice to my character, I denounce to the world John Randolph, Member of Congress, a prevaricating, base, calumniating scoundrel, poltroon, and coward.”
At the time of the French Revolution two celebrated French duellists were residing in Philadelphia, Louis de Noailles and Alexandre de Tilly. The Viscount de Noailles was admitted into the family of a Mr. Bingham, one of the wealthiest merchants of Pennsylvania, and a senator. He soon after introduced the Count de Tilly, who was much liked by Mrs. and Miss Maria Matilda Bingham, an only daughter. The experienced seducer soon persuaded the young lady, who was not yet of age, to marry him privately, and they 379 were secretly united in 1799, by a clergyman whom they had bribed.
This marriage threw the family into a state of consternation. The mother died heart-broken, Mr. Bingham only survived her a few years; and a Mr. Barry thought it proper to chastise the Frenchman, who was, however, induced to leave the United States on the following conditions:—Five thousand pounds ready money to pay his debts,—an annual allowance of five hundred pounds,—and an acknowledgment on the part of Mr. Barry, either in writing or by a verbal communication through the Count de Noailles, that he merely pushed against him in a crowd!
In the year 1804, General Hamilton, who had been just appointed ambassador from the United States to Paris, got involved in a political dispute with Colonel Aaron Burr, then vice-president. Dr. Cooper had published a pamphlet, in which he had said “Colonel Hamilton and Dr. Kent say, that they consider Colonel Burr a dangerous man, and one unfit to be trusted with the reins of government.” In another place the same writer said, “General Hamilton has expressed of Colonel Burr opinions still more despicable.”
The last passage excited the resentment of Colonel Burr, who demanded from General Hamilton “a prompt and unqualified acknowledgment or denial of the expressions which could justify this inference on the part of Dr. Cooper.” 380 General Hamilton admitted the first statement, which he contended was fairly within the bounds prescribed in cases of political animosity, but objected to be called on to retrace every conversation which he had held either publicly or confidentially in the course of fifteen years’ opposition. This would not satisfy Burr, who insisted upon satisfaction and a meeting.
On the evening before the duel Hamilton made his will, in which he enclosed a paper, containing his opinion of duelling; and, expressive of the reluctance with which he obeyed a custom so painful to his feelings, he says—
“On my expected interview with Colonel Burr, I think it proper to make some remarks explanatory of my conduct, motives, and views. I was certainly desirous of avoiding this interview, for the most cogent reasons:—
“First.—My religious and moral principles are strongly opposed to the practice of duelling, and it would ever give me pain to shed the blood of a fellow creature in a private combat, forbidden by the laws.
“Secondly.—My wife and children are extremely dear to me, and my life is of the utmost importance to them, in various points of view.
“Thirdly.—I feel a sense of obligation towards my creditors, who, in case of accident to me, by the forced sale of my property, may be in some degree sufferers. I do not think myself at liberty, 381 as a man of probity, lightly to expose them to hazard.
“Fourthly.—I am conscious of no ill-will to Colonel Burr, distinct from political opposition, which, as I trust, has proceeded from pure and upright motives.
“Lastly.—I shall hazard much and can possibly gain nothing by the issue of the interview.”
The parties met, and Colonel Burr’s shot took fatal effect. General Hamilton had determined not to return the fire, but, on receiving the shock of the mortal wound, his pistol went off involuntarily in an opposite direction.
Few individuals died more lamented than General Hamilton, whose funeral at New York was observed with unusual respect and ceremony. All the public functionaries attended, and the bells, muffled, tolled during the day. All business was suspended, and the principal inhabitants wore mourning for six weeks. No death, save that of Washington, had filled the republic with such deep and universal regret.
A singular and fatal duel was fought in New York by the late Stephen Price, well-known as the former lessee of Drury Lane theatre. The following is an account of this affair, extracted from the American papers:—
“Benjamin Price was a grocer at Rhinebeck, and was considered the flower of the flock. He was at the theatre one evening with a beautiful 382 woman, when a British officer, in an adjoining box, took the liberty of turning round and staring her full in the face. She complained to Ben Price, and, on a repetition of the offence, he turned round and seized the nose of the officer full between his finger and thumb, and wrung it most effectually.
“The officer left the box, and soon after a knock was heard at the door of Ben Price’s box. Ben opened it, and there stood the officer, whose name was Green, and who asked Ben, what he meant by this behaviour? at the same time remarking, that he had not meant to insult the lady by what he had done. ‘Oh! very well,’ replied Ben, ‘neither did I mean to insult you by what I did.’ Upon this they shook hands as sworn brothers; and some time after Mr. Green went to Canada to join his regiment.
“The facts of this affair, ............